A super freshman season just came to an unfortunate ending. Juju Watkins faced Paige Bueckers and a tough UConn squad led by legendary coach Geno Auriemma in March Madness' Elite Eight. She left it all on the floor but just ran out of time. Coach Lindsey Gottlieb practically ran the offense through her star which means that great things are ahead if she chooses to stay with the USC basketball program.
The first thing that was glaringly obvious to all USC basketball fans was that Juju Watkins did not want to leave the floor. She wanted Coach Lindsey Gottlieb to give her every chance to stay in the game a la Cheryl Miller. It paid dividends for the Trojans. Her offensive outburst shined the most out of anyone in the USC basketball system. Juju Watkins managed to score 29 points.
However, that number does have its drawbacks. The USC basketball star forced the issue quite a bit and could not get into much of a groove. Juju Watkins would oftentimes take it to the hole and expect contact. When the whistle was in her favor, it meant buckets for USC. She recorded a perfect nine of nine in the free throw line. However, the whistle is not always on her side. This meant that she was absorbing a lot of unnecessary contact which did not get the Trojans any points. The game ended with her only knocking down nine out of her 25 field goal attempts because of this habit.
Another great thing that the USC rookie did was crash the boards well. Despite her stature, Watkins was able to get into good positions to box out and grab rebounds over other taller players like Paige Bueckers, and Aaliyah Edwards. Coach Geno Auriemma could not do much or scheme UConn's way out of this which resulted in Watkins recording 10 boards.
USC crumbles at the hands of UConn
While that works out for her, Coach Lindsey Gottlieb may want to explore her playmaking abilities more. Her two assists are a testament to an untapped potential of being a consistently elite dime dropper in college basketball. She already has the gravity to draw out double teams and make teams like Paige Bueckers' UConn blitz her. The next step would be knowing when to recognize that these defensive schemes are taking place and taking advantage of them. Passing and court vision are all skills that she can improve after this March Madness loss.
That ability to drop dimes also helps keep scoring outbursts infectious and the offense rolling despite her being locked down. She did have some help with McKenzie Forbes also notching 24 points but the effort to keep other teammates involved has to be there. USC basketball has the personnel to make everyone pop off offensively. It is just a matter of being able to run the schemes such that all of them get a look and an opportunity to score every possession.
Heliocetricity might no longer cut it if USC wants to make a deeper March Madness run or even win the national championship while Watkins is around. Recording a meager 10 assists while turning the ball over 10 times was their main downfall. A player should not have the ball in his hands as much. Better recognition of passing lanes when they are trapped in a zone or acknowledging man-to-man collapses for kickouts will be effective skills.
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